INPA

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR TODAY
2021-03-26 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Zoya Vallari (CalTech)
2021-04-02 12:00 - 13:00
Speaker: Zoya Vallari (California Institute of Technology)
Title: Neutrino Oscillation Results & Future Prospects of the NOvA Experiment
Abstract:
Neutrino mixing parameters are rapidly being measured to a higher precision by many experiments, however key questions such as mass hierarchy of neutrinos and CP violation in the lepton sector are still unanswered. NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino experiment that measures oscillation using the muon neutrinos and antineutrinos delivered by the NuMI beam at Fermilab. Neutrino oscillation is detected by observing appearance of electron (anti)neutrinos and disappearance of muon (anti)neutrinos at the Far Detector located near Ash River, MN, as compared to the Near Detector at Fermilab.
This talk will focus on the latest results from the joint analysis of neutrino and anti-neutrino oscillation by NOvA and highlight its current sensitivity to neutrino mixing and CP violating parameters. I will compare these results with other global results, specifically the T2K experiment, and outline the plans for the upcoming joint data analysis between the two experiments.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99139885106?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 991 3988 5106
Passcode: [REDACTED]

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2021
2021-04-09 12:00 - 13:00

SPECIAL VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Roger Huang (UCB)
2021-04-14 12:00 - 13:00
Speaker: Roger Huang (UC Berkeley)
Title: 0νββ Search Results from One Ton-Year of CUORE Data
Abstract:
The search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) is currently the most sensitive way to test the hypothesis that neutrinos may be Majorana particles and obtain insight as to the nature of neutrino masses. CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) first began taking data over 3 years ago and is now one of the leading experiments in the current international 0νββ landscape. It utilizes a cryogenic bolometric approach, operating 742 kg of TeO2 at a temperature of ~10 mK to search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of Te-130. This talk will present new results from the search for 0νββ with CUORE, coming from an analysis of data corresponding to over one ton-year of exposure.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/95552707017?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 955 5270 7017
Passcode: [REDACTED]

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Walter Pettus (Indiana University)
2021-04-16 12:00 - 13:00
Speaker: Walter Pettus (Indiana University Bloomington)
Title: Project 8: Towards the Atomic Tritium Future of Direct Neutrino Mass Measurement
Abstract:
Neutrino flavor oscillations provided the first break in the Standard Model by proving that neutrinos have nonzero mass, but leave us with an unanswered question: How much mass? Project 8 is a next-generation experiment based on the novel Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) technique to perform a radio frequency-based measurement of the tritium beta spectrum. The goal of the phased program is to reach a mass sensitivity below 40 meV, completely covering the allowed region of the inverted mass ordering. In this talk, I will present results from the waveguide apparatus measurements of 83mKr and molecular tritium, demonstrating the capabilities of the CRES technique. Progress is underway on the next phase of the experiment focusing on a pair of critical technology demonstrations – scaling the CRES technique to a large free-space volume, and production and trapping of a high-intensity atomic tritium source.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/98529820162?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 985 2982 0162
Passcode: [REDACTED]

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Erin Hansen (UC Berkeley)
2021-04-23 12:00 - 13:00
Speaker: Erin Hansen (UC Berkeley)

Title: Progress on the search for 2νββ of 130-Te to excited states of 130-Xe with CUORE

Abstract:
The CUORE experiment is a ton-scale bolometric array searching for the lepton number violating neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) in the isotope 130-Te. While a discovery of 0νββ would herald new physics, the Standard Model process of two-neutrino double-beta decay (2νββ) in 130-Te has been measured in CUORE. In such cases where the isotope decays to an excited state of the daughter, 130-Xe, gammas are emitted leading to events whose energy is spread across multiple crystals. CUORE is currently searching for this decay mode, as understanding the branching ratio and spectral shape for such 2νββ decays to excited states can improve nuclear modelling and help constrain the matrix elements involved in searches for 0νββ. This talk will describe the status of and progress towards an improved search for 2νββ decays to excited states with an increased exposure of CUORE as well as additional analysis features. By exploiting the segmented nature of the CUORE detector, the scope of event signatures considered in the search is expanded and further accompanied by an improved efficiency of signal containment.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/95917081698?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 959 1708 1698
Passcode: [REDACTED]

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Sam Hedges (Duke University)
2021-04-30 12:00 - 13:00
Location: via Zoom
Speaker: Sam Hedges (Duke University)
Title: Experimental Tests of Low Energy Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions at the Spallation Neutron Source
Abstract:
The intense flux of neutrinos produced at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) make it an ideal location to pursue studies of low energy neutrino-nucleus interactions. The COHERENT experiment has deployed a suite of detectors to the SNS to measure coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS), a standard model process predicted more than forty years ago but only recently observed. CEvNS plays an important role in the evolution of a supernova, is a background for WIMP searches, and has potential applications for monitoring reactor neutrinos. In addition, COHERENT is studying several inelastic neutrino-nucleus cross sections that are of interest for supernova neutrino detection and as backgrounds for CEvNS measurements. An overview of the COHERENT program at the SNS, supporting nuclear physics measurements, and recent results will be presented.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/99483481476?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 994 8348 1476
Passcode: [REDACTED]

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR
2021-05-07 12:00 - 13:00, 2021-06-04 12:00 - 13:00, 2021-06-25 12:00 - 13:00

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Jessica Esquivel (Fermilab) | Friday, May 14, 2021
2021-05-14 12:00 - 13:00
Speaker: Jessica Esquivel (Fermilab)
Title: Can Wobbling Muons Probe Physics Beyond The Standard Model? Fermilab’s Muon g-2 Run 1 results.
Abstract:
On April 7th 2021, Fermilab’s Muon g-2 experiment announced it’s first results of the precision measurement of the anomalous muon magnetic moment based on it’s 2018 Run-1 dataset. These results align with the Brookhaven National Laboratory experimental value and the combined values increases the tension between experiment and theory from 3.7 to 4.2 sigma. This talk will give an overview of the Fermilab Muon g-2 experiment, discuss the steps necessary to precisely measure wobbling muons, why this result has the physics community abuzz, and what’s next.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/98052159063
Meeting ID: 980 5215 9063
Passcode: [REDACTED]

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | KE HAN (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
2021-05-21 16:00 - 17:00
Speaker: Ke Han (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)
Title: Rare Event Searches with PandaX
Abstract:
PandaX is a staged xenon-based dark matter and rare event searching project located at the China JinPing underground Laboratory (CJPL). In this talk we will present the latest dark matter search results using the full exposure data of PandaX-II, a 580-kg liquid xenon Time Projection Chamber (TPC). Special focus will be on the recent solar axion analysis with PandaX-II low-energy electron-recoil spectrum. We will also update the status of PandaX-4T, the next generation multi-ton-scale liquid xenon experiment currently being commissioned at CJPL, as well as PandaX-III high pressure gaseous TPC.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/94237908005?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 942 3790 8005
Passcode: [REDACTED]

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Lu Lu (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
2021-05-28 12:00
Speaker: Lu Lu (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Title: Detection Of A Particle Shower at the Glashow Resonance with IceCube
Abstract:
First proposed in 1959 by S. L. Glashow, the resonant creation of a W− boson from the interaction of an anti-electron neutrino with an electron has never been experimentally observed. In the electron rest-frame the required neutrino energy, Eν ≈ 6.3 PeV, is orders of magnitude greater than the energies of neutrinos created in Earth-based accelerators. As such, efforts at observing the interaction have focused on large-scale high-energy neutrino observatories designed to detect neutrino interactions in a natural medium, such as the cubic kilometer of Antarctic ice instrumented by the IceCube collaboration. In the talk I will report the first Glashow resonance candidate event from IceCube and the implications for the field in the future.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/98680929840?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 986 8092 9840
Passcode: [REDACTED]

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Bryan Ramson (Fermilab)
2021-06-11 12:00 - 13:00
Location: via Zoom
Speaker: ​Bryan Ramson (​Fermilab)
Title: Towards A New Generation of Bubble Chambers

Abstract:
Long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments present some of the most compelling paths towards beyond the standard model physics through measurement of PMNS matrix elements and observation of leptonic CP violation. State of the art long baseline oscillation experiments, like NOvA and T2K, are currently statistically limited, however uncertainty in neutrino-nuclei scattering represent leading sources of systematic uncertainty and will fundamentally limit the precision of future experiments like DUNE and T2HK if not addressed. Neutrino cross section uncertainties can be reduced through high statistics measurement of neutrino interactions on light nuclei, but creating a detector with an appropriate light target has proved elusive since the hydrogen bubble chambers of the previous century. Modern chamber based dark matter detectors like PICO/PICASSO/COUPP and the Scintillating Bubble Chamber have demonstrated that advances in sensor technology, computing, and automation would allow a modern bubble chamber to fully utilize the megawatt scale intensity LBNF beam through the use of high resolution and high speed cameras, novel triggering, and machine-learning based event reconstruction. This talk will review the broad physics program for the construction of a bubble chamber for use with neutrinos supplied by the LBNF.

Join Zoom Meeting https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/92148547097?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 921 4854 7097
Passcode: [REDACTED]

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Javier Menéndez (University of Barcelona)
2021-06-18 10:00 - 11:00
Speaker: Javier Menéndez (University of Barcelona)
Title: Nuclear Theory To Reveal The Nature Of Dark Matter And Neutrinos

Location: via Zoom

Abstract:
Unveiling the nature of dark matter is one the most exciting challenges in physics. While it constitutes about a quarter of the energy-density of the universe and 80% of its mass, the composition of dark matter remains elusive. Beyond the solid evidence based on its gravitational properties, a key step would be the direct detection in the laboratory, a program led by searches of the scattering of dark matter particles off atomic nuclei. Naturally, the interpretation of these experiments depends on the nuclear physics input that describes the dark matter scattering off nuclei. Assuming a scenario where dark matter is mainly composed by WIMPs (weakly interacting massive particles) that couple to quarks and gluons, I will introduce nuclear theory insights needed to characterize the possible nuclear-WIMP interactions, with focus on which WIMP-nucleus interactions can receive contributions from several nucleons in the nucleus (coherence), or how experiments could distinguish between different WIMP-nucleus interactions.
Likewise, the scattering of neutrinos off nuclei and a rare proposed nuclear decay, neutrinoless double-beta decay, can determine if neutrinos are its own antiparticles, and pin down physics beyond the Standard Model. Again, these processes depend on nuclear physics input that needs to be calculated from nuclear theory and which is key to interpret experimental searches. If time allows, I will also discuss the most prominent features of the nuclear matrix elements for coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering and neutrinoless double-beta decay.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91005179177?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 910 0517 9177
Passcode: [REDACTED]

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | María Martínez (Universidad de Zaragoza)
2021-07-02 12:00 - 13:00
Speaker: María Martínez ​(​Universidad de Zaragoza​)​
Location: via Zoom
Title: Annual ​M​odulation ​R​esults ​F​rom ​Three​ ​–​Y​ear ​E​xposure of ANAIS-112
Abstract:
For more than 20 years, the DAMA/LIBRA experiment at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory (Italy) has claimed a positive dark matter detection: an annual modulation in the low-energy detection rate compatible with the expected signal induced by dark matter particles due to the Earth rotation around the Sun. This signal is in strong tension with the negative results of other very sensitive experiments. However, until recently a direct comparison using the same target material (NaI(Tl)) was lacking. ANAIS (annual modulation with NaI Scintillators) is a dark matter direct detection experiment located at the Canfranc Underground

Laboratory (LSC, Spain). Its main goal is to test in a model independent way the DAMA/LIBRA positive result. ANAIS-112 operates 112.5 kg of NaI(Tl) scintillators at the LSC since August 2017 and is taking data smoothly with excellent performances. Results from the first three years are compatible with the absence of modulation and incompatible with the DAMA/LIBRA measured modulation at more than 2.5 sigma C.L.

In this seminar I will briefly review the DAMA/LIBRA puzzle and the status of the experiments trying to reproduce it. Then I will introduce the ANAIS-112 experimental set-up, the detector performance and analysis methods. Finally, I will present the results of the annual modulation analysis corresponding to three years of ANAIS data, the physical implications and the prospects for the 5 years of scheduled operation time.

Join Zoom Meeting​
​https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/95105088780
Meeting ID: 951 0508 8780

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Alessio Porcelli (Ghent University)
2021-07-09 12:00 - 13:00
Speaker: Alessio Porcelli (Ghent University)
Title: Method To Measure The Cosmic Rays Mass Composition With IceCube/IceTop
Abstract:
There is an intrinsic difficulty in measuring the mass of Cosmic rays at Ultra-High Energy. The only possible way involves measuring the Extensive Air Showers (EAS) characteristics produced by hadronic interactions of the incoming particle (primary) with the atmosphere: it behaves as a calorimeter producing secondary particles. EAS are characterized by a longitudinal profile along the shower development and a lateral one at the ground around the shower core. In the latter distribution, because of the shower physics, the information of the mass is delivered by the muon component.
IceTop is part of the IceCube experiment, sited at the geographic South Pole. While the latter consists of 86 strings drilled inside the ice covering a kilometer cube to detect neutrinos from astrophysical origins, the former are stations on the top of such strings used to veto atmospheric neutrinos. IceTop consists of 81 stations, each with two water Cherenkov detectors with two Photomultiplier Tubes each, able to detect Cherenkov light produced by the crossing charged particles. This setup of detectors can also be used to measure the EAS lateral distribution, letting IceCube be able to measure also Cosmic Rays with energies above 1 PeV and up to 1 EeV.
Two different approaches will be presented in the seminar, using IceTop alone or together with the in-ice part of IceCube. Moreover, improvement attempts will be depicted: analysis strategies and the incoming extension IceCube-Gen2.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/93261885135?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 932 6188 5135
Passcode: [REDACTED]

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Friday, July 16, 2021
2021-07-16 12:00 - 13:00

SPECIAL VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Jingkai Xia (Shanghai Tech)
2021-07-21 12:00 - 13:00
Speaker: Jingkai Xia (Shanghai Tech)
Title: Detector Study For New Generation Of Neutrino And Dark Matter Experiments In China
Abstract:
Non-zero neutrino mass and the existence of dark matter are two important observations beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. Research on neutrino properties and dark matter detection will help to promote the discovery of new physics. New generation of neutrino and dark matter experiments are under construction or in commissioning in China, where advanced detectors are the key to meet the scientific goals. In this talk, I will introduce my work in detector research efforts in JUNO and PandaX-4T experiments, as well as study on detector technique which may be utilized in future experiments in China.

Join Zoom Meeting
https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/96324647091?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 963 2464 7091
Passcode: [REDACTED]

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR| Friday, July 23, 2021
2021-07-23 12:00 - 13:00

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Friday, August 6, 2021
2021-08-06 12:00 - 13:00

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Friday, August 13, 2021
2021-08-13 12:00 - 13:00

CANCELLED VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Nikolay Markov (JLab)
2021-08-20 12:00 - 13:00

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Friday, August 27, 2021
2021-08-27 12:00 - 13:00

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Friday, September 3, 2021
2021-09-03 12:00 - 13:00

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Friday, September 10, 2021
2021-09-10 12:00 - 13:00

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Friday, September 17, 2021
2021-09-17 12:00 - 13:00

NO VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Friday, September 24, 2021
2021-09-24 12:00 - 13:00

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Andreas Biekert (UC Berkeley)
2021-10-01 12:00 - 13:00
Speaker: Andreas Biekert (UC Berkeley)
Title: Scintillation Yield From Electronic and Nuclear Recoils In Superfluid 4He
Abstract:
HeRALD is a proposed sub-GeV scale dark matter detector based on a superfluid 4He target and transition edge sensor readout, supported as part of the TESSERACT project. Possible signal channels available for readout include prompt photons, triplet excimers, and roton and phonon quasiparticles, but the relative strength of these signals for low energy nuclear recoils requires experimental verification. We have measured the superfluid 4He scintillation yield at 1.75 K from nuclear recoils in the range of 50-1100 keV using a 16 cm3 target volume read out by six superfluid-immersed PMTs. Elastic scattering of 2.8 MeV neutrons produced by a deuterium-deuterium neutron generator and Compton scattering of 662 keV 137Cs gamma rays were used to determine the relative scintillation yield. Yields of both prompt and delayed scintillation components were measured and compared to a semi-empirical response model based on helium-helium and electron-helium scattering cross sections. We also discuss the development of a 24 keV neutron source to extend our measurements to smaller nuclear recoil energies.
Join Zoom Meeting https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91625792208?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 916 2579 2208
Passcode: [REDACTED]

VIRTUAL INPA SEMINAR | Kevin Thieme (Univ. of Zurich)
2021-10-08 12:00 - 13:00
Speaker: Kevin Thieme (University of Zurich)
Title: A Measurement of the Mean Electronic Excitation Energy of Liquid Xenon

Abstract:
Detectors using liquid xenon as target are widely deployed in rare event searches. Conclusions on the interacting particle rely on a precise reconstruction of the deposited energy which requires calibrations of the energy scale of the detector by means of radioactive sources. However, a microscopic calibration, i.e. the translation from the number of excitation quanta into deposited energy, also necessitates good knowledge of the energy required to produce single scintillation photons or ionisation electrons in liquid xenon. The sum of these excitation quanta is directly proportional to the deposited energy in the target. The proportionality constant is the mean excitation energy and is commonly known as W-value. Here we present a measurement of the W-value with electronic recoil interactions in a small dual-phase xenon time projection chamber with a hybrid (photomultiplier tube and silicon photomultipliers) photosensor configuration. Our result is based on calibrations at O(1–10 keV) with internal 37-Ar and 83m-Kr sources and single electron events. We obtain a value of W=(11.5 +0.2 -0.3 (syst.)) eV, with negligible statistical uncertainty, which is lower than previously measured at these energies. If further confirmed, our result will be relevant for modelling the absolute response of liquid xenon detectors to particle interactions.

Join Zoom Meeting https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/93376704948?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 933 7670 4948
Passcode: [REDACTED]
